OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Tecumseh / Kirby Engines Flywheel removal HK30

Hi, I have just picked up an Alroh 47 powered by a Kirby Tecumseh HK30. Reconnected the starter rope and put in a new plug and she fired up ok. However carby is all gummed up and engine fins a d flywheel blocked up with old lawn clippings. I figured I may as well strip it down, clean it, set timing and adjust valves to get it running better. All going well until I tried to get flywheel off. Can anyone suggest a method they found effective. There are no holes for a puller and I am worried about using a puller on edge of flywheel.



Thanks

Hi Diablo, welcome to Outdoorking.

Various methods are prescribed by different engine manufacturers, and all of them have disadvantages. I tend to use a flat plate puller if the flywheel has holes for one, but I don't like to drill holes blindly when I haven't seen the design of the inside of the flywheel. I usually use a 6" gear puller on cast iron flywheels but I don't like to do this with aluminium ones. You may be interested in the method Tecumseh prescribes for some of its engines:



I don't actually recommend this method for horizontal crankshaft engines like yours, because unlike the vertical crankshaft ones, they usually have ballraces for both main bearings, so the axial thrust on the crankshaft is taken by one of the ballraces. (The screwdriver supporting the underside of the flywheel does not seem likely to be very effective, to me. It may just give the crankshaft a running start in moving downward, so it can hit the ballrace with a larger thud.) Nevertheless the flywheel and crankshaft are fairly heavy, so as long as you don't hit the tool too hard or too often, it should be OK. Worst case, you need a new ballrace at the PTO end.

We have a member who uses an air chisel (with a blunt, ball-ended chisel) in the center of the crankshaft, and feels that this is actually gentler than the Tecumseh technique, as long as you keep the air pressure low and the vibration-time down to a small fraction of a second.

Thanks for the info Grumpy.

Success!
No knock off tool but I picked up the biggest 7/16 unf nut I could find and followed the instructions from grumpy. Here is a couple of 'after' pics, one after a bit of a clean.

All the fins and covers were full of this dirt.

The dirt behind the flywheel only matters if it interferes with the ignition, but obstructed cooling fins can cause serious overheating problems.

That is what I thought.

Hi Diablo, and a warm welcome to the forum. It is nice to have you aboard as we all like to learn new things and tinker here.

i am looking forward to the pics when you have cleaned this beast up....I think it will come up a treat!

Me too,as there is not much on these out there. The engine on my Turner was a runner too,but when I stripped it she was a little worse for wear,although the piston and bore were good. I used the original plus 2 doner engines just to get a decent reliable runner. I had new rings and gasket kit in my spares with it so it wasnt too bad,as I worked out to rebuild one of these without valves would be around $300 to $400...Crazy,when a Victa costs about $50 in parts. Anyways hopefully yours will be good and im sure this resto will come up great!

And BTW I was lucky in the fact that all 3 of my flywheels pretty much fell off when the nut was released.....At least one part was easy!

Mal, I don't think it needs to cost anywhere near that much, depending on what is wrong with it of course. Have you read this excellent thread of Mr Bonnar's?

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37736#Post37736

Of course not,if you want to look around for ages and find the parts. I found a few cheaper items, But most sites I visited were ridiculous. Pistons were all over $100 alone. My point was if it was a mess then it may not be worth doing as to buy piston valves kits and the like would be kinda crazy. .The main problem I found with all these engine was the exhaust valve guide was incredibly worn and they are not easy to obtain as ive been looking for another engine for ages in the hope its guides were better,no point in doing all this work and having oil pouring through the valve guides and smokin like crazy and chewin up oil.The guides are steal,not allloy like briggs so arent as easily reamed to refit inserts.. My outlay was cheap also actually fuel line was my only cost as the rings and gaskets were in a box of spares and the doner engines gave me a good valve train and piston. Basically My point was to fully rebuild one of these engines was quite expensive if all parts were to be replaced. But as youve said parts can be obtained cheaper with time and good looking.
And thankyou for the link its incredibly informative and is also exactly what I had to go through to rebuild mine. For some reason,(carby and a few other bits mainly) this was a longer and more fidelly engine rebuild than Victa or briggs as its slighlty more complex especially in the carby area and repairs to a few components id normally replace. But ive never rebuilt one and it was interesting and a slight challenge doing so. Thanks mate

I too read the thread on Mr Bonnars rebuild and used some of the info today when I set the timing. Progress so far has been to clean all the fins, set the valves, points and timing. The piston and bore look ok just a bit of carbon that needed to be cleaned off the top of the piston and the combusrion chamber. I intend to clean it a bit more and give a new paint job. However I have it almost all back together to give it a test run to confirm it runs ok before putting more time and money into it.

You haven't mentioned whether you are going to replace the piston rings. They do wear out, but I have no idea how much work your engine has done. Usually the piston and bore will outlast 2 or more sets of rings, provided the engine is always kept full of clean oil. Dirty oil wears out the piston and bore, as well as the crankpin.

If you measure the piston ring gaps we can talk about whether they need to be replaced. Measure the gaps with feeler gauges, with the rings 1 cm down the bore from the top. Make sure they are square to the bore by pushing them down with the top of the (upside-down) piston.

You mention setting the valves....you mean you just checked gap? Or lapped them and reground the ends? What were your guides like? My exhaust valve guides were very worn on 2 and a little less on the vk 30. Basically I used the valves and train of a vk30 the original block an piston and the crank and lower housing of another. Chucked the zenith and rebulit the Walbro. New rings gaskets and lower seal and a new c starter cup and she runs like a dream. The only thing I hate about this carb is the primer it makes a puddle on the base with no run off hole and running down the whole side of the mower leaving a mess, so im gonna modify the bowl and use a sealed nipple and dran tube. Agreed with grumpy the best part of this engine seemed to be piston and wear was minimal on all 3 with the exception of a dropped ring groove rendering one useless.

So far I haven't worried about the piston rings. I want to check it runs ok before doing the rings. As for the valves, they were seated pretty well so I only checked the gap. Hadn't thought to check the guides. Gave it a quick test this evening and she fired up but would not run smoothly or for too long. I reckon the carb needs more work.

Oh, and had to do a quick patch job on the underneath of the fuel tank. That was after filling it with CLR,a couple of handfuls of small sharp quartz stones and shaking it to clean out the rust and muck. Next step will be to use a tank sealant kit to do the job properly given the pinholes but the JB Weld patch job will get it back in use short term.

Given the time needed to get the engine running properly I have decided an engine swap is the go. Especially since I have a 3hp Briggs from my father in laws old edger (after it was replaced).
It was for the kids go kart but I bought the mower for my father in law so it seems only right to return his engine. Except now it has an alroh mower under it instead of an alroh edger.
I did have to modify the frame to accept the Briggs because it is wider and I did not enough clearance for the starter. This is how some of the later Alrohs are anyway. Having trouble loading pics so will add them later

Here are the pics. Things went pretty well until I went to finish one of the last jobs before a test run - fit the pulley on the engine pto shaft. My shaft is too big. The briggs has a 3/4 and the kirby must be 5/8. Not sure if the pulley can be machined out or if it should be replaced.

Solution found. I picked up another Briggs 3hp for $20 which has a 5/8 shaft. Swapped the engines over (I'm getting pretty quick at this with all the practice) and fit the pulley. Fit great and sat square as I'd hoped. The only trouble now is the A27 v belt is too short and I will need to get a 29 or 30 (once I measure up and work out which will fit best). Also, the other Briggs can now go back on the go-kart. Changed the plug in the new motor and it ran well. Probably just needs adjustment of the carb to smooth things out. I'll wait until I get the belt and test it under load.

Hi Diablo,
Are you going to fabricate another right-hand handle stay for this machine?
I also notice that your new 3HP Briggs has the larger 2 quart fuel tank fitted, that should keep you mowing for quite a while between refills.
A good result with the modification, are you going to re-paint it?

Hi Deejay,
You've noticed the jobs still on the list. Yes I need to sort out the handle stay and a repaint is on the cards. At the moment I'm wanting fo get it up and running so it is all there mechanically and then strip it back for painting and proper parts replacement - I.e. new bearings, chains etc. Not just the bits and pieces that were too faf gone like the v belts.